Finland Receives 2.2 Million Face Masks That Are Unsuitable for Hospital Use

A Chinese shipment of 230,000 standard face masks and two million surgical masks arrived in Finland on Tuesday to help combat the coronavirus pandemic, the government told a virtual news conference on Wednesday.

A shipment of more than two million face masks did not meet the Finnish standards. Picture: Tony Öhberg for Finland Today

After the Technical Research Center of Finland VTT analyzed the masks they concluded that the material is not suitable for hospital use; “it doesn’t meet the European standards.”

“The documents were okay when the deal was made, everything looks good, and then the product is not what it’s supposed to be,” said Tomi Lounema, the director of Finland’s National Emergency Supply Agency NESA.

According to the Ministry for
Health and Social Affairs, the masks could still be used in public and private
nursing homes.